Is death that which gives meaning to life? And I said, no, life is that which gives meaning to life.

I don't think you can talk about progress in art - movement, but not progress. You can speak of a point on a line for the purpose of locating things, but it's a horizontal line, not a vertical one.

The writer is one who, embarking upon a task, does not know what to do... Writing is a process of dealing with not-knowing, a forcing of what and how.

The aim of literature ... is the creation of a strange object covered with fur which breaks your heart.

Endings are elusive, middles are nowhere to be found, but worst of all is to begin, to begin, to begin.

Any genuine work of art generates new work.

I believe that because I had obtained a wife who was made up of wife-signs (beauty, charm, softness, perfume, cookery) I had found love.

Yes, success is everything. Failure is more common. Most achieve a sort of middling thing, but fortunately one's situation is always blurred, you never know absolutely quite where you are.

The death of God left the angels in a strange position.

We are what we have been told about ourselves. We are the sum of the messages we have received. The true messages. The false messages.

The privileged classes can afford psychoanalysis and whiskey. Whereas all we get is sermons and sour wine. This is manifestly unfair. I protest, silently.

If we can accept the fact that we create illness, it follows naturally that we can also create wellness. And therein lies a most empowering nugget of truth and healing.

Some things we must learn through experience. That is how one truly lives.

No man can rationally live, worship, or love his neighbour on an empty stomach.

A genius is a man who does unique things of which nobody would expect him to be capable.

Another murder I committed made the front page.

O happy life! life hid with Christ in God! So making me At home and by the wayside and abroad, Alone with Thee.

Those who walk, run, or slide downhill eagerly would rather not think about the long, hard climb back up the hill again.

The human need to play is a powerful one. When we ignore it, we feel there is something missing in our lives.

Don't wait until you get hungry to eat. Eating throughout the day is best. And obviously sleep is important.

How was I to know? ... You didn't say anything.""I said lots of things," he corrected gently. "You just didn't hear them.